Inside Out

Obsessed with obscenities!

The obsession with family or rather against family members seems to be getting the better of common sense among the Sangh Parivar.

It was not surprising to find Prime Minister Narendra Modi rant against the prevalence of Chacha, Chachi, Bhabhi, Mama, Mama ka saala and saale ki bahu getting tickets, at an election rally in Meerut.

He has given this command performance in almost all elections after it fetched him rich dividends in 2014 when the mood was against the Congress and anything said against the Gandhi family got instant applause and TRP.

This rhetoric failed in Bihar but with the BJP having its back to the wall both Amit Shah and Modi have started using the same tirade against family members joining politics.

But it was shocking to find Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for information and Broadcasting using almost the same kind of analogy at a press briefing in the PIB while releasing the official report of the activities of the government for the year 2016/17.

Having made the official laudatory statement about the performance of the government someone asked him about the futility of the note bandi exercise because there was no sign of black money or fake money.

“People have only changed the money they had with them and withdrawn the same. So where is the so-called fight against black money,” a reporter asked.

To which the ‘Modi is India’ brand promoter Venkaiah Naidu retorted, ”Paisa bank mein aaya, par is baar apni mata ke saath aaya,pitaa ke saath aaya, beta ke saath aaaya,.”

In this crude way of wiping away the government’s embarrassment he only reiterated its parroted logic that unaccounted money lying outside banks had now become legitimate because it has its legal owner tag now.

Wonder whether the people of Uttar Pradesh would forgive the Modi Government for closure of many of their factories and sending so many employed labour from the unorganised sector from the big cities back home due to non-availability of liquid cash.


Jaitley stepping on the toes of Bandaru Dattareya?

It is not unusual for a party like the Bharatiya Janata Party to maintain a dual persona –one for public consumption and another for its cadres.

But when someone like Pawan Kumar, North Central Zonal Secretary of its Trade Union wing Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh BMS blames Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for double speak it creates doubts.

Talking about the budget proposals which includes several important labour reforms Kumar is quoted as saying, “On December 30, 2015, in the presence of Bandaru Dattareya (Labour Minister) and me, Jaitley had said that Indian labour laws do not need any reform.”

He wondered why the Minister had second thoughts and continued “the Finance Minister had no business in talking about legislative reforms in the Labour ministry, and by doing so, he was interfering with the affairs of another ministry”

The (BMS) has slammed the Union government’s new labour law amendment as a “thoughtless move” that will only help in further “exploitation of the entire working class in the country”.

This outright condemnation comes in the wake of the Lok Sabha passing the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which mandates payment of all salaries under Rs 18,000 only through cheque or digital transactions.

In a language that seems to reflect the concerns of the RSS Headquarters in Nagpur he said, “This is only a thrust for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India campaign and workers should not pay for such a mission.”

“To withdraw money, an employee has to take a leave from work and many employers would not be willing to give leave to an employee just to visit a bank and withdraw money. Banks deduct commission on withdrawal and an amount above Rs 2,000 has a commission of 0.5%, which leads to a loss of Rupees 50. Is that not a loss? It’s an impractical decision without proper consultation and thought,” says Kumar.

He is however happy that the Lok Sabha did not include the provision which permitted the clause allowing women to work at night as demands to include women in the workforce are raised by “the so-called NGOs and so-called intellectuals who are financed by foreign funds.”

“This is not America, this is India. Indian women manage the entire home and if she works at night, how will she manage? Here children don’t stay in child care homes and elderly are not sent to old age homes. The entire family structure will collapse in India. Here women are not safe during the day, then imagine what will happen at night,” said Kumar.


Where is Shiela Dikshit ?

In the new found bonhomie between Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav for one of the most prestigious elections of Uttar Pradesh, everyone seems to have forgotten the ever graceful and courteous former Chief Minister of Delhi Shiela Dikshit .

Congress was the first to announce its candidate for the post of Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh and the 78 year old Shiela Dikshit three- time Chief Minister of Delhi had accepted the news of her nomination with demeanor even though everyone was skeptical about her chances in the UP elections.

But all through the vigorous campaign launched by Rahul Gandhi, Congress vice- president through his khaaat politics to involve farmers the ex Miranda House student Shiela Dikshit who has an impeccable command over Hindi, English and Punjabi took her role as seriously as expected of her, whatever her own reservations.

And finally when the deal between Rahul and Akhilesh for an alliance was stuck to keep the BJP away she quietly vanished away from the scene of action to avoid media controversy.

Three years after she was hounded by alleged cases of corruption in the Commonwealth Games both by the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party not a single charge has stuck to her.

There was some murmur of protest by her son Sandeep Dikshit who alleged that these allegations had been floated by the present DPCC Chief Ajay Maken but since both she and Maken were close to 10,Janpath the issue died down before it could take alarming proportions.